1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to leg shields in an automotive vehicle for protecting driver's legs against the incoming wind induced during the travel of the automotive vehicle and moving relatively in a direction opposite to the direction of travel of the automotive vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some of the large motorcycles, particularly touring models thereof, are equipped with left and right leg shields positioned forwardly of foot rests on respective sides of the motorcycle for protecting driver's legs from the incoming wind. It has, however, been found that since the motorcycle combustion engine is positioned inwardly of the foot rests, interruption of flow of the wind around the driver's legs leads to stagnation of air of a relatively elevated temperature in the vicinity of and around the driver's feet particularly during the summer season. Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. S61-19994, published Jun. 16, 1986, for example, discloses a small motorcycle such as a motor scooter employing a ventilating system.
According to this Japanese publication, the motor scooter has a protective shield for protecting the driver's legs and a front cover above the protective cover. The front cover has the ventilating system which includes left and right openings or windows and a shutter employed for each of the windows for opening and closing the window. The window is opened to allow the incoming wind to enter through the windows towards and around the driver's legs.
In respective embodiments shown in and described with particular reference to FIGS. 3 to 6 of the Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication referred to above, each of the doors is supported for movement between opened and closed positions about upper and lower vertical stud shafts that are coaxial with each other and that are positioned at a location substantially intermediate of the width of the window. Accordingly, when the shutter is moved to the opened position to allow the incoming wind to enter inwardly of the front cover, the shutter and the stud shafts constitute an obstruction to the incoming wind flowing through the windows. Furthermore, since the shutter is exposed to the incoming wind, the stud shafts are required to be robustly supported.
Also, in a different embodiment shown in and described with particular reference to FIG. 10 of the Japanese Utility Model Publication referred to above, since the stud shafts for pivotally supporting the shutter are disposed adjacent upper and lower corners of one side edge of the shutter, the stud shafts will not constitute any obstruction to the incoming wind. However, since the shutter is equally exposed to the incoming wind, the stud shafts must be robustly supported with high strength.